


Hold Your Peace

by camseydavis (orphan_account)



Series: Company Calls [1]
Category: Bandom, Paramore
Genre: Gen, the joshayley is mostly implied here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 13:45:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2112150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/camseydavis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the wedding, there were some bets and a lot of doubts. Or, Josh's Time Off Before Getting Married.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Your Peace

It is between the third and fourth time that Jenna calls him saying her dress might not be finished in time and the florist doesn’t agree with her opinions on the centerpieces (even though, she adds, “I’m the one who’s walking down that goddamn aisle and nobody should ever take advice from someone with that haircut”) that he realizes, damn, it’s my wedding, _I should be home for this_. So he calls a band meeting.

“Guys,” Josh says, and his four bandmates stare expectantly, “I think I should take, um, maybe I should take a few weeks off? Since I’m getting married, and all-”

“Oh, _finally_!” Taylor shouts. “Hand ‘em in, guys. That was easy.” He says, a little too happily, while Hayley sighs, Jeremy groans and Zac rolls his eyes before placing a 20 dollar bill on Taylor’s hand. “I know you better than your brother, Josh, isn’t that sad?”

“Hey! He’s acting out of character right now!” Zac retorts, and Hayley sighs sadly again.

“This is why I didn’t want to bet. God, I could’ve used those 20 bucks on makeup. Thanks, Josh.” She says, and Josh frowns for a moment before realizing that, wow, they were betting on _him_.

“Wait, wait, were you betting on _me_? And what exactly was the bet? What’s going on?” He asks, mildly offended, because he’s not even getting a part of the money even though he made the bet possible. Totally unfair.

“Well, you see,” Jeremy says, “we didn’t think you would actually take time off for the whole wedding planning thing. It’s just not your thing. Actually, now that I think about it…” he leaves the thought unfinished, and Taylor smiles brightly. “50 bucks says he doesn’t go!” He says.

“70 says he does go but comes back three days later!” Taylor counter-bets, and Zac nods, thoughtfully.

“Actually, I back that one up. 70 bucks too.”

“100 bucks says he does go but announces it on the internet just so he can’t come back but he’ll spend every minute of every day missing us and being miserable and wanting to call the whole thing off,” Hayley says, and her bandmates all stare at her. She frowns. “What? It’s definitely happening. I made my bet. Actually, I’m starting another betting pool right this moment.”

“YES! Bring it on, Williams.” Taylor says, while Josh groans.

“When I called for a band meeting, guys, this is not how I thought it would go.” He says, lamely, and Hayley pats his shoulder a few times.

“It’s okay, thanks to you your bandmates are getting richer. Now,” she looks at the other guys menacingly, “how many times do y’all think Josh is going to Skype us weekly. Individual calls count, sending us selfies counts too. 50 says seven.”

“70 SAYS FIVE!” Zac yells, and Taylor shakes his head.

“Dude, you need to learn how to bet. 80 says 10 and over.”

“That’s not fair, Taylor, I only chose one number!”

“That’s not my fault. Jeremy?”

“40 says three or less, including zero.” Jeremy finally says, sounding bored out of his mind. Josh silently thanks every higher power.

“Thank you, Jeremy.” He says, and Jeremy winks.

“You’re welcome.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, dummy, he’s got the safest bet right now because you know about the existence of this bet and he knows you’re stubborn.” Hayley says, looking very interested in her nails. Josh groans again.

“I’m leaving this band, I swear to God.”

(He does announce it on the internet in the end, earning a hug from Hayley and a death glare from Jeremy, but it’s definitely not because he has no willpower and will want to come back. _Definitely_ not.)

-o-

They’re in the middle of rehearsal with Justin when Zac’s phone rings. Everybody stops dead in their tracks.

“Zac?” Taylor says, not quite hiding the glee in his voice. Zac looks at his phone and claps.

“SELFIE FROM JOSH!” He shouts. Everybody cheers. Jeremy runs to Zac and takes his phone from his hands. “Hey!”

“Shut up, I wanna see what- awwww, look at that! He’s pouting!” He says.

“Zac, you should call him.” Taylor suggests. “You know, ask how he’s doing, tell him we’re all here for him, maybe we can play some songs for him-”

“What we should do,” Hayley says, “is leave him alone. Seriously. Poor guy. We’re making this harder than it has to be for him. He’s getting married, he should be there for Jenna and we should be supportive and instead, everything we’re doing is making it all harder on him because we’re too stubborn and proud to lose a bet.” She finishes his rant, and every person in the room is staring at her. She frowns. “What? Guys, you’ve met Jenna. The only thing that could make things worse than Josh being there is Josh not being there. Can you even imagine…”

“God, the horror.” Zac mutters.

“And you know what?” She says, “we should be rehearsing. Put Zac’s phone away, Jerm.” Everybody nods.

(They’re about to start rehearsing again when Taylor whispers “can’t we at least call him so he can listen to the rehearsal?” and Hayley slaps his arm.)

-o-

On day four (a day after Taylor lost his bet, a fact he had only accepted, albeit reluctantly, because there was another bet going on), Josh calls Hayley very late in the night, and when she answers the phone, she’s half asleep.

“She just threw a flower pot at me,” he whispers, probably from somewhere not within Jenna’s reach. Hayley has to make a serious effort not to laugh.

“Did she, really? What did you do?” She asks.

“Why do you assume it was something I did?” Josh replies, seemingly offended. “I didn’t do anything, I just said she could use a good spa day-”

“You what?!” Hayley almost shouts, and then thanks God for her hotel room. If she had been in the tour bus, everybody would’ve woken up. “Josh, you did not just do that. Are you serious? Have you learned nothing from me?”

“Uh… no? Apparently I haven’t. Do enlighten me, please, because I can’t see how offering a spa day is wrong in any way.”

“You should’ve just called her ‘bridezilla’, it would’ve gotten the point across easily.” Hayley sighs out, suddenly questioning Jenna’s choice of man. How could someone be _that_ dense, it was just not something she could understand.

“Is that what I did? Hayley, did I offend her? Oh, God.” Josh suddenly says, the worry obvious in his voice. Hayley yawns.

“Yes, you probably did. But now you offered, so you’ll have to pay for that spa day now.” She says, her voice heavy with sleep, her eyes slowly closing. Josh whines on the other side of the line.

“Jesus. Oh, Heavenly Father, I’m not getting married, I can’t do this. It’s day four, Hayles, I could go back now without letting Taylor or Zac win the bet…” he offers, hopefully, but Hayley is already half asleep.

“I’d still win. Go to sleep, love you.” she sighs out, before drifting off completely.

Back in Nashville, Josh freezes.

-o-

By day six, Josh has called and sent selfies a total of six times, which means Hayley is likely to win the first week. Jeremy seems to be fine with it, but Zac is most definitely not, and Taylor is _fuming_.

“C’mon, Taylor,” Hayley says, in a sweet, condescending voice, that makes him cross his arms and frown harder, “you won the last bet. It’s a gentlemanly thing to do, letting the girls win. You’re a southern boy.”

“I swear to God I am not letting you win this one, Williams.” He says, and Hayley kisses his cheek. Taylor huffs.

“Yes, you are,” she says, and right then, her phone rings. Josh’s face is bright and clear on her homescreen. “Hey! I’m winning!” Taylor takes the phone off her hands and answers.

“Hi, Josh, this is Taylor, I’m hanging up now.” He says, and then hangs up. Hayley glares at him.

“Hey! That’s not fair, you’re cheating!”

“There are no rules against- hey, look, he’s calling again. Go ahead. Answer it.” Taylor smirks, and Hayley reluctantly takes her phone.

“Hey, Josh, sorry about that, Taylor was losing the bet. He’s a cheating asshole.” She says, and she can practically _hear_ Josh’s smile.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this and I swear to God I will do very bad things to you if you say it to anybody else, but you guys are keeping me sane right now.” He replies. Hayley grins.

“I’m glad.”

-o-

The night of the first show, Josh and Jenna have a huge fight and, instead of working it out like engaged couples should, Josh retreats into the guest room and calls the band on Skype. Hayley is warming up, so she doesn’t really pay attention, but Taylor, Jeremy, Zac and Justin are listening to his rambling.

“...and like, seriously, she wanted me to be here so I could have input on our wedding, emphasis on our, but when I get home I can’t say one word without her blowing off like the huge,  goddamned controlling freak she is. I am so done with her, I wish I hadn’t left. I wish I hadn’t proposed, actually. God, grant me the strength.” He finishes, and every person in the room is staring at the screen. “What?” He asks, but everybody remains silent.

“I just,” Zac says, quietly, and clears his throat, “I’m definitely going to end up on Jenna’s bad side but, bro, do you want to come back?” He asks, carefully. For the first time since Josh announced he’d take a few weeks to plan the wedding, everybody looks serious about it.

“Really?” Josh asks, like he’s really thinking about the offer.

“Well,” Taylor says, more solemn than he’s sounded in years, probably, “some people in this room are going to kill me for saying this but we’re… we’re worried about you, Josh.” Zac and Jeremy nod. “We don’t think this is the right move for your relationship-”

“Oh, shut up, Taylor!” Hayley says, and it’s the first thing she’s said since the call started. “Regardless of what we as a band or as your friends think, seriously, Josh, you need to man up. She’s blowing off, of course she is, she’s had to plan almost the entire thing by herself while you’re too busy checking up on us to obviously avoid anything that has to do with the wedding because you’re terrified about it. Guess what, a marriage takes two people! You’re one of them! Stop being such a wuss about it, it was you who proposed so go talk to her! You know what, maybe you’re not talking to her now because you’re secretly hoping she’ll call the whole thing off so you don’t have to do it yourself? I don’t know, I don’t care, she’s your fiancee, go sort out your issues with her instead of complaining to us, we have a show to play.” She presses the hang-up button, and goes back to her vocal warm ups without changing her facial expression even slightly. On the other side, Josh is left speechless.

They play the show, but there is something off. They don’t mention it at all afterwards.

The next week, Josh doesn’t call at all.

-o-

Two days before the Pacific Rim tour is over, Josh calls Hayley at midnight. She’s still not asleep, somehow, so she sounds overly-enthusiastic when she picks up the phone.

“Hi, Josh! How’s planning going?” She says, and Josh lets out an amused huff.

“As well as it can go when we fight about it twice a day. How did today’s show go?” He asks, and he sounds very interested, so Hayley starts talking about it and doesn’t stop at all until she realizes she’s been talking for about three minutes. “Josh? Did you fall asleep?”

“No, I’m still here. It’s just… I miss you. And the guys, and tour. I miss all of it.” He says, sadly, and if they were in the same place, Hayley would totally reach out to hug him.

“You’re doing this for a good cause, Josh. You’re spending the rest of your life with this woman.” Hayley says, and Josh groans. “What?”

“I’m so tired of everybody saying that all the time. Let’s have an honest conversation for a while here, please. Can we do that?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, then. Please, tell me if you  _really_ see me and Jenna spending the rest of our lives together.” Josh says, and  _oh_ . Okay. Hayley freezes.

The thing is, she would love to say “yes, of course, you’re totally made for each other!” and then pretend she’s really tired and hang up on him. But she promised to be honest and, truthfully, she can’t. Even before the engagement happened, while they were still a normal couple, they would fight twice a day. They have fallouts every week, they’re not necessarily a healthy couple, and when Josh said he’d proposed, the very first thing that came to Hayley’s mind was “oh, she’s pregnant.” They’re not what forever looks like, not like, say, Jeremy and Kathryn. She really can’t see it.

She sighs loudly, and Josh says “see?”

“But what I can or cannot see is not relevant. Can you, Josh, see yourself spending the rest of your life with Jenna?” She asks, and there’s only silence in response. “Oh, Josh.”

“I love her, Hayley. I really do love her.” He tries saying, like it could somehow work out all of it, every doubt and every issue and every little thing that’s pitting against them. But they both know it’s not enough.

“I know you do,” Hayley replies.

They stay in silence for a few more minutes, until Hayley falls asleep.

-o-

They return home three days after that phone call, and the wedding is scheduled to happen nine days later. Josh calls to ask for a band meeting, so once they’re all back on Nashville and they’ve slept of the jet-lag, they meet at Hayley’s house.

“First of all,” Hayley says, “I would like to remind all of you that nobody wins the first week bet, because Josh called nine times, and Jeremy wins the second week bet because Josh called two times. And, drum roll please,” Zac drum rolls into a table nearby, “I win the actual bet because Josh did write an announcement and, even though he intended to come back, he actually didn’t! Yay me!” Josh clears his throat. Hayley rolls her eyes. “And, fine, yay Josh for having enough willpower to stay with his fiancee!”

“Now that we’re done with the betting behind my back and stuff, can we actually address what I wanted to say?” Josh asks, flatly. Hayley hums in agreement. “Fine. Guys, I just wanted to say, I missed you. And it’s been a rough few weeks but thank God now you’re here so I don’t have to deal with my lovely bride-to-be on my own.”

“Honestly,” Taylor says, “I don’t know how she’s marrying you. I suggest calling off the whole thing.”

“And Taylor is officially vetoed from commenting, suggesting and/or just-saying anything from now on and until Josh and Jenna are officially married.” Zac says. Josh looks at him gratefully.

“But, really,” Jeremy says, “how are we going to help with wedding planning? How can we make this easier on you, oh poor tortured Josh, being slowly murdered by the hands of his lovely fiancee?”

“Well, for starters, you guys could start by helping me pick up a suit?” Josh asks, and the way he’s cringing suggests he knows what’s coming.

“ _You haven’t picked up a tux yet?_ ” Hayley roars, and, _yes_ , there it is.

-o-

By the time they’ve reached the third formal clothing store, Josh is already bored out of his mind. And so are Taylor, Jeremy and all the groomsmen. Hayley is growing increasingly frustrated.

“You know what, Josh,” she finally snaps, “I’m going to tell Jenna I’m marrying her instead. I’m more interested in this wedding than you, and  _you’re the one getting married._ ” Josh stands up from where he’s sitting, and stands right in front of her, very close to her face, looking at her defiantly.

“You wanna marry her? Go ahead. God knows I don’t.” He whispers. Hayley deflates, and squeezes his shoulder.

“C’mon, Josh. You know I didn’t mean that. We can come back tomorrow.” She says, softly. Josh closes his eyes for a second, before grabbing the hand she had just used to grab his shoulder and dragging her out of the store. Once they’re outside, he sits on the sidewalk and Hayley sits beside him.

“If this is how planning is going,” he whispers, after a few minutes of silence, “how are we going to live as husband and wife? The more time it passes, the more I realize the love I have for her isn’t going to be enough for this marriage to last.” Hayley rests her head on his shoulder.

“I don’t want you to think I’m enabling you, I’m not, I promise, but it’s okay to call the whole thing off,” she whispers, “and I am, honestly, just thinking about saving your future children the pain of going through a divorce.”

“I didn’t even think of that.” He admits. Hayley laughs, bitterly.

“Nobody ever does.”

“I’m so sorry. I really should call it off.” Josh says. “But I don’t want to call it off, not really. Is that weird?”

“It’s called love. And, honestly? I think you two could make it. Against all odds, you might. And that’s the most reassuring thing I can give you right now.” She jokes, and Josh laughs what might be the most genuine laugh he has let out in the past four weeks or so. He kisses her hair.

“You deserve that best man spot more than anybody else.”

-o-

Two days before the wedding, Hayley has a dream. It’s probably the lack of sleep, and how involved she’s been in a wedding that’s not hers, and the fact that she’s suddenly become more aware that Josh is her ex-boyfriend during the past few days, but she has a dream.

When the priest says “speak now or forever hold your peace”, she stands up.

He looks at her, wistfully, almost regretfully, but doesn’t say anything.

She leaves the church alone.

She wakes up soaked in sweat, and thinks about calling him up.

She doesn’t.

-o-

The day before the wedding, they have one last band meeting with Josh as a single man, just for the sake of having one. It’s mostly their band’s version of a bachelor party, which includes some planning for the next tour and teasing Josh about what he’ll be doing tomorrow night. Josh looks mortified.

“Okay but, seriously, did you really manage to go this long without having sex? At all? You haven’t even felt her up a bit?” Jeremy asks, and Zac groans.

“Dude, he’s my brother, I really don’t wanna know that.”

“You’re a big boy, Zac, you can handle this,” Jeremy replies, and looks at Josh again, “but, really? Nothing?”

“Nope.”

“Not at all?”

“No, Jeremy.”

“Absolutely not?”

“Okay, God! I’m not a virgin, I’ve had sex, Jesus Christ you can be a pain in the ass sometimes, Jeremy!” Josh finally admits, and then blushes deeply. Jeremy claps.

“ _I knew it!_ ” He shouts. Josh stares. “What? Of course you were not a virgin. Even if I didn’t have my methods, dude, you dated my best friend. I would find out sooner or later.”

“Oh, my God,” Hayley says and hides her face in her hands. Josh turns around to face her.

“ _You told him?_ ” He whispers, angrily, and Hayley whines.

“He’s my best friend, of course I did. Oh, God, we are not discussing this. End of discussion. This is not happening. This the first and last time we’re ever going to discuss my sex life. Ever. And Josh’s, for that matter. Oh my God this is not something I wanted anybody in this band to know aside from, um, the people involved-”

“Great, not only they know I didn’t wait until marriage to have sex, now you’re also ashamed of me. This is just swell.” Josh complains, and Hayley looks offended.

“I am not ashamed of you- we’re not discussing this right now. We’re not. I’m stopping now. I will stop talking. That’s it.” She says, and then crosses her arms to make her point.

“In that case,” Zac tries, shyly, trying to ignore the fact that his own face is as red as Hayley’s and Josh’s, “can we come up with a plan in case someone tries to speak up during the ceremony?” Taylor looks at him, questioning.

“Is that something you’re seriously worried about?”

“Well, yes. It could happen.”

“If someone were to speak up at my wedding,” Josh says, softly, and looks at Hayley, who’s looking back at him with her eyebrows raised, “first of all, I wouldn’t really be bothered. And second of all, it might not change anything. So we don’t need a plan.”

“Alright then.” Zac says, and doesn’t mention the fact that Josh is still looking at Hayley.

He doesn’t mention Josh’s choice of words, either. If he says “might” and not “will”, that’s his thing.

-o-

When the priest says “speak now or forever hold your peace”, nobody stands up.

-o-

After he dances with Jenna and with his mom, he walks up to Hayley and offers his hand. She gladly takes it.

Once they’re on the dancefloor, he says “I don’t regret any of this” and she smiles, genuinely.

“I had faith in you. I have faith in you two. Actually,” she smirks, “500 says you make it until you’re old and grey and your grandkids have graduated college.” Josh stops and looks at her, and if there are tears in his eyes, or hers, neither says anything.

“I would like to back that up.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> There are mistakes, probably, since it's 3am and I binge-wrote this, wow. This is a prequel of Jealousy, based on a specific line that's been bugging me since I wrote the damn thing over a year ago. It's probably not the first one.  
> I also tried to keep this strictly platonic (because anything else would've been tacky and I am tacky but not _that much_ ) so that's why there's no kissing or anything.  
> And, wow, this is now a part of a series now because I'm an idiot and the Joshayley still hits hard sometimes.


End file.
